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Atrial fibrillation, a commonly encountered arrhythmia, has in recent years, been the subject of increased interest and intensive clinical research. There is also increasing awareness that atrial fibrillation is a major cause of embolic events which in 75% of cases are complicated by cerebrovascular accidents^[1,2]. Atrial fibrillation is often associated with heart disease but a significant proportion of patients (about 30%) have no detectable heart disease^[3]. Symptoms, occasionally disabling, haemo-dynamic impairment and a decrease in life expectancy are among the untoward effects of atrial fibrillation, resulting in an important morbidity, mortality and an increased cost for the health care provider^[4].

The Working Group of Arrhythmias of the European Society of Cardiology created a Study Group on Atrial Fibrillation in order to establish recommen-dations for the better management of this arrhythmia and to …